There are various circumstances, particularly in the agricultural equipment industry, where it is desirable to have a basic endless belt conveyor apparatus which may easily have parts added to it to convert it to an animal feeder of the type that runs above a feed bunk and has a reciprocating plow to discharge material off both sides of the belt into the feed bunk. Such readily convertible equipment is especially desirable in the agricultural equipment industry because a great deal of the assembly of such equipment is performed by a farmer, and this makes simplicity of assembly and conversion of primary importance.
It is also desirable, of course, for any equipment that must be shipped knocked down (KD) and field assembled to have simple, easily assembled parts, and to have a minimum number of parts so as to reduce shipping weight and complexity of assembly. Likewise, equipment designed for use in a farm environment, where it is necessarily subjected to rough use and inclement weather, must have a minimum of assemblies requiring close tolerances.
The apparatus of the present invention meets the foregoing criteria.
The prior art known to applicants and their attorneys which is the most pertinent to the present apparatus includes Purdy U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,306,261 and Shepley 3,672,334. Both such patents relate to belt type animal feeders that have a reciprocating plow for discharging material from the sides of the belt throughout the length of a feed bunk.